The Greatest Books of All Time on Ethics

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
6435 On Immunity Eula Biss 2014 American English
6437 Blood Music Greg Bear 1985 American English
6508 The Triple Mirror of the Self Zulfikar Ghose 1992 Pakistani English
6516 Language, Truth, And Logic A. J. Ayer 1936 British English
6652 Fail Safe Eugene Burdick, Harvey Wheeler 1962 American English
6803 On Photography Susan Sontag 1977 American English
6836 We are All Completely Beside Ourselves Karen Joy Fowler 2013 American English
7021 Crito Plato -389 Greek Ancient greek
7025 Precarious Life Judith Butler 2004 American English
7031 Records of the Grand Historian Sima Qian 91 Chinese Classical chinese
7048 The King Of Torts John Grisham 2003 American English
7216 Unto This Last John Ruskin 1860 British English
7216 Corydon André Gide 1924 French French
7216 Back To Methuselah George Bernard Shaw 1921 Irish English
7216 R.U.R. Karel Čapek 1920 Czech Czech
7577 The Racial Contract Charles W. Mills 1997 American English
7580 Speaker for the Dead Orson Scott Card 1986 American English
7582 Feed Seanan McGuire 2010 American English
7583 Animal Liberation Peter Singer 1975 Australian English
7766 In Search of Klingsor Jorge Volpi Escalante 1999 Mexican Spanish
7793 The Gods Themselves Isaac Asimov 1972 American English
7808 Products Of The Perfected Civilization Sébastien-Roch Nicolas de Chamfort 1969 French French
7878 Forever Peace Joe Haldeman 1997 American English
7909 The Lincoln Lawyer Michael Connelly 2005 American English
7961 The Starr Report Kenneth W. Starr 1998 American English
8144 Down Girl Kate Manne 2017 American English
8220 Rumpole Of The Bailey John Mortimer 1978 British English
8296 La Guerra De Galio Héctor Aguilar Camín 1991 Mexican Spanish
8299 Empire Of Pain Patrick Radden Keefe 2021 American English
8322 The Truth Terry Pratchett 2000 British English
8363 Moral Man And Immoral Society Reinhold Niebuhr 1932 American English
8363 Ethics Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1949 German German
8363 Integral Humanism Jacques Maritain 1936 French French
8402 Genie Russ Rymer 1993 American English
8408 On Human Nature E. O. Wilson 1978 American English
8445 The Harvest Of Chronos Mojca Kumerdej 2016 Slovenian Slovenian
8503 Soul of a Citizen Paul Rogat Loeb 1999 American English
8511 Euthyphro Plato -399 Greek Ancient greek
8538 Lady Joker Kaoru Takamura 1997 Japanese Japanese
8768 War Diaries Jean Paul Sartre 1940 French French
8862 The Warrior's Honor Michael Ignatieff 1997 Canadian English
8989 Falling Free Lois McMaster Bujold 1988 American English
9091 Pluto's Republic Peter B. Medawar 1982 British English
9192 Violation Sallie Tisdale 2016 American English
9238 Lightning Rods Helen DeWitt 2011 American English
9260 The Sexual Politics Of Meat Carol J. Adams 1990 American English
9262 The Price of Power Seymour M. Hersh 1983 American English
9722 The Terminal Experiment Robert J. Sawyer 1995 Canadian English
9722 The Moon and the Sun Vonda N. McIntyre 1997 American English
9741 Crime Ferdinand Von Schirach 2009 German German
9756 The Years of Extermination Saul Friedlander 2007 Israeli English
9821 The Precipice Toby Ord 2020 British English
9927 The Problem Of Atheism Augusto Del Noce 1964 Italian Italian
9939 My Sister's Keeper Jodi Picoult 2004 American English
10084 The Girl With All The Gifts M. R. Carey 2014 British English
10081 To Shape A New World Tommie Shelby, Brandon M. Terry 2018 American English
10095 Time Enough For Love Robert A. Heinlein 1973 American English
10100 The People In The Trees Hanya Yanagihara 2013 American English
10245 A History of Philosophy Frederick Charles Copleston 1946 British English
10277 Death's End Cixin Liu 2010 Chinese Chinese
10405 Oh Pure And Radiant Heart Lydia Millet 2005 American English
10423 Internal Ecology Morals For Xxi Century Dario Salas Sommer 2007 Chilean Spanish
10501 The Fragility Of Goodness Martha C. Nussbaum 1986 American English
10739 Truth And Truthfulness Bernard Williams 2002 British English
10817 Life In Code Ellen Ullman 2017 American English
10825 Scythe Neal Shusterman 2016 American English
10899 After Many A Summer Dies The Swan Aldous Huxley 1939 British English
10926 Robert Grosseteste R. W. Southern 1988 British English
10940 The Art Of Cruelty Maggie Nelson 2011 American English
10978 They Know Not What They Do Jussi Valtonen 2014 Finnish Finnish
10987 The Proper Study of Mankind Isaiah Berlin 1997 British English
11052 An Imagined World June Goodfield 1981 British English
11112 Moving Mars Greg Bear 1993 American English
11112 The Speed of Dark Elizabeth Moon 2003 American English
11140 The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture David Brion Davis 1966 American English
11140 A Problem from Hell Samantha Power 2002 American English
11234 The Mote In God's Eye Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle 1974 American English
11308 The Immortals René Barjavel 1960 French French
11328 The Gene Siddhartha Mukherjee 2016 American English
11390 This Common Secret Susan Wicklund 2007 Unknown English
11438 A History Of Bombing Sven Lindqvist 1999 Swedish Swedish
11454 Scarlet Sister Mary Julia Peterkin 1928 American English
11502 State Of Wonder Ann Patchett 2011 American English
11525 Memorabilia Xenophon -371 Greek Ancient greek
11533 Modernity On Endless Trial Leszek Kolakowski 1990 Polish English
11546 Utilitarianism John Stuart Mill 1863 British English
11573 The Citadel A. J. Cronin 1937 British English
11662 The Dark Side Jane Mayer 2008 American English
11662 Christianity, Social Tolerance, And Homosexuality John Boswell 1980 American English
11662 Conrad In The Nineteenth Century Ian Watt 1979 British English
11662 Philosophical Explanations Robert Nozick 1981 American English
11662 The Fate Of The Earth Jonathan Schell 1982 American English
11796 A Case of Conscience James Blish 1958 American English
11797 Cyteen C. J. Cherryh 1988 American English
11812 Ecology, Community And Lifestyle Arne Naess 1989 Norwegian Norwegian
11926 Ancillary Mercy Ann Leckie 2015 American English
11940 The Thought and Character of William James Ralph Barton Perry 1935 American English
11940 Machiavelli in Hell Sebastian de Grazia 1989 American English
12066 Les Thanatonautes Bernard Werber 1994 French French
12123 The Palestine Laboratory Antony Loewenstein 2023 Australian English
12236 Original Sin Jake Tapper 2023 American English
12326 Simone De Beauvoir Deirdre Bair 1990 American English
12326 Judge On Trial Ivan Klima 1991 Czech Czech
12326 Huxley Adrian Desmond 1997 British English
12326 An Affair Of State Richard A. Posner 1999 American English
12412 Populate And Perish George Haddad Unknown English
12643 Officialdom Unmasked Li Baojia 1903 Chinese Chinese
12924 More Than Human Theodore Sturgeon 1953 American English
12990 If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies Eliezer Yudkowsky 2025 American English
13362 An Enemy of the People Henrik Ibsen 1882 Norwegian Norwegian
13362 The Amphibian Man Alexander Belyaev 1928 Russian Russian
13362 The Analogy Of Religion Joseph Butler 1736 British English
13362 The Methods Of Ethics Henry Sidgwick 1874 British English
13505 Humanist Manifesto 2000 Paul Kurtz 1999 American English
13533 Noon, 22nd Century Arkady Strugatsky 1961 Russian Russian
13597 Strangers And Brothers C. P. Snow 1940 British English
13600 Les Bêtes Pierre Gascar 1953 French French
13716 The Just City Jo Walton 2015 Canadian English
13716 The Philosopher Kings Jo Walton 2015 Canadian English
13743 Menschen Wie Götter Sergej Snegow 1966 Russian Russian